A last desperate act.
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare1 is a game about exactly what it says it is: what it means to be a soldier in the Year of Our Lord 200whenever it came out, 8 probably. For the first time in history, a majority of the people fighting in an honest to God war grew up playing videogames that play at war. The rock solid geniuses over at Infinity Ward have, in response, made the first and only game that really captures the zeitgeist of the Bush Years, probably—hopefully—without realizing it.
The brilliance of MW is that it turns the usual videogame oo-rah power fantasy on its head by subversive measures and actually entertaining gameplay. It stands out best as a contrast to Bioshock, which wore its “lol videogame” on its sleeve and managed not to say anything about anything in the process.
MW is one long series of failures. There can only be one conclusion to draw from the game’s presentation: that violence begets violence.